


wild at heart

by auroracode



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Animagus!Newt, Gen, and i will fight people on this, he's also fully capable of being cunning, newt is very smart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:15:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auroracode/pseuds/auroracode
Summary: In which Newt overhears talk of animagus, and with all the wisdom of a twelve-year-old who loves animals, decides he just has to become one.And the misadventures that follow.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	wild at heart

Newt was in a seldom visited alcove near the transfiguration classroom, once again hiding from bullies who seemed to have dedicated their schooldays to tormenting him, when the third years leaving class passed by eagerly talking about that day's lesson. Normally he wouldn’t have paid them any attention and simply stayed focused on the kneazle kitten he was trying to nurse back to health, however, a certain word caught his attention. Animagus. 

He’d heard of animagi before, most wizards from a pureblood family likely had, but he didn’t know too many details. They seemed fascinating though, to be able to turn into an animal and see the world through their eyes was a very appealing prospect to him, and so he forced himself to stay as still and quiet as he possibly could while he listened. 

“What do you think, would you want to become an animagus?” A Slytherin girl questioned one of her classmates, who tilted her head to the side in thought for a moment before replying. 

“I don’t know, it would be cool, but it seems rather dangerous. I don’t really want to end up forever stuck as a half-human, half-animal hybrid.”

“That’s true.” The first girl agreed, “Oh well, it’s not like we were actually taught how to do it, so we wouldn’t even have a chance of giving it a try right now.”

“How do you think you even learn?” The girls were moving farther down the hall, forcing Newt to strain to hear them as he didn’t dare follow. “You think there are books in the restricted section?”

“Probably, but you’d have to get a teacher's permission to look, might as well just ask someone like McGonagall to teach you.” The second girl wrinkled her nose in displeasure at that. 

“But then people would know you’re one.” She complained and her friend shrugged,

“You have to register with the Ministry anyway.” At that point the girls turned a corner and disappeared out of earshot, but that was fine with Newt, he was fairly certain he’d heard all the important information already. Sitting down on the cold hard floor of the alcove, he began to pet the kitten on his lap while he thought about the things he'd overheard.

The fact that becoming an animagus could be dangerous didn't particularly bother him, he'd found that just like with animals, most things were only dangerous when you went about them the wrong way; so long as you used the right method and showed the situation the proper respect and care, you generally would be alright. 

The real problem was the fact that he didn't actually know how to become one, from what he’d overheard it seemed that even if he waited until his third year he wouldn’t be taught the actual method to do it, so there was no point in simply waiting around in hopes of learning. That Just left the restricted section or asking a teacher, and he quickly crossed that option off his mental list; he was only a second year, there was no way they’d teach him the method currently. 

They’d want him to wait until he was older, which technically would be fine for him to do since there wasn’t any urgent need for him to be an animagus, but he didn’t want to wait. There were several benefits to being an animagus he could think of; he’d be able to more easily approach injured creatures without worrying them, he could escape from his bullies or his parent's lectures much more easily, and he might even be able to talk to animals.

Of course, he still needed to figure out how to actually become an animagus first. With waiting until his third year and asking a teacher off the table, that only left looking in the restricted section, which came with its own set of problems. 

As a mere second-year he couldn't get in there himself, if he wanted a book from there he had to get a note from a teacher stating the book he wanted and that he had permission to get it, and show it to the librarian who would then fetch it for him. He wouldn't be able to lie about what book he wanted, not that he was any good at lying anyway, which would put him in a situation no better than if he'd just directly asked a teacher how to become an animagus. 

The only teacher he could think of that might not immediately tell him off for thinking about such a thing at his age was Professor Dumbledore; the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was one of his favorites, unlike some of the others he'd never tried to force Newt to try to fit in with the other students and had always been kind and supportive. He was still a professor though and so Newt knew it was very possible he'd feel the need to stop his student from doing something 'dangerous', it would be better not to risk it. 

Plus, even if they were somehow fine with him trying to become an animagus at twelve, they would definitely make him register with the ministry and he didn’t particularly want that. It wasn’t that he hated the ministry or anything, but he thought they made laws about a lot of things they had no business making laws about and didn’t make or enforce laws about things that they really should. Of course if he mentioned that opinion to anyone, he generally either got told he was just a child and didn’t know what he was talking about, or received a disappointed look from Theseus. 

Newt let out a groan, and the kitten he was holding let out a soft meow, as if it was trying to comfort him; which very well may have been the case, Kneazles were incredibly intelligent after all. He was back to square one, all of his ideas had been thought of and dismissed already. He really wasn't good at the whole scheming thing, he was more the type to just follow his instincts, but that wasn't something that would work in this situation.

That was one of the reasons Newt preferred interacting with animals to humans, they tended to act on instinct and logic, rather than being unpredictable like humans were. It was much easier to figure out the proper way to interact with them, and so long as you treated them right they were much more pleasant than people. 

Of course, not everybody saw it that way, he still remembered the time earlier in the year when he’d brought a couple of fairies with him into the library and the librarian had freaked out. The fairies hadn’t even done anything, just flitted around the shelves and the students a bit, but they’d been treated like some terrible nuisance. 

He'd ended up with a week's worth of detention for 'causing chaos' and then another week's worth because he pointed out to the librarian that there hadn’t actually been any chaos until she'd started trying to swat at the fairies. The incident had made it very clear to him that she was no lover of creatures, just like far too many other people in the school. 

It had been disappointing at the time, and it still was, but now that he was thinking about it again it had given him an idea. If he could recreate chaos like that time, though without the blame for it being pinned on him, he could take advantage of it to sneak into the restricted section and find the book he needed. Of course, he'd need a willing partner for it to work….

Glancing down at the kitten in his arms with a hopeful expression, he asked a simple question. "Do you want to help me?"

The kneazle seemed to smile up at him and gave a soft meow, which Newt took as an affirmative answer. Shifting slightly so he was sitting in a more comfortable position, Newt lightly tapped a finger against the floor. "Alright, how should we do this?"

* * *

Having a plan and actually putting it into action were two very different things, as Newt soon came to find out after figuring out what he needed to do. There were a lot of individual bits and pieces that needed to be put in place if he wanted things to be successful, and that meant plenty of time and patience were needed; luckily he had both. 

His first priority was to finish nursing the kneazle kitten back to health; she might have agreed to help him out, but that didn’t mean he was going to have her do things while she was still injured. He really wasn't sure what had happened to her, but there had been a deep gash across one of her hind legs when he'd found her and while he'd been doing his best, his healing skills were still limited. He still hadn't managed to convince anyone to teach him healing spells, so he'd been limited to bandages and poultices; which while perfectly viable and sometimes safer methods, weren’t as quick as simply casting a spell.

That was fine though, the important thing was that she healed, and in the meantime there were other things for him to deal with. Relying only on a distraction to sneak into the restricted section was far too risky, if he was caught he didn’t think he’d be expelled or anything, but he’d definitely get a hefty amount of detentions and likely have a letter sent to his parents. The latter consequence was honestly the one that concerned him the most, he didn’t particularly want to sit through another lecture filled with thinly veiled comparisons of himself to Theseus. 

He didn’t have anyone else he could rely on for help besides the kneazle, so magic was his only option; unfortunately, there weren’t any spells among those taught to first and second years that would be helpful in this situation, which meant he’d have to learn some new ones. Ironically the search for new spells had brought him to the library, where the librarian stared at him with suspicion as he entered and sat down at a table. He’d had the foresight to some of his homework with him so that no one would question what he was doing; not that looking up spells for other years was against the rules, but given the fact that the librarian already disliked him, he didn’t want to give her any ammo she could use as a reason to kick him out.

It felt a bit strange to be voluntarily looking through books for information that didn’t have anything to do with creatures or plants, Newt by no means disliked learning, but his self-study tended to lean towards things involving living creatures rather than purely magical topics. It was surprising how many spells he’d found that could actually be put to good use in regards to interacting with magical creatures, both the Impervious Charm and Unbreakable Charm could be useful in keeping things clean and unbroken, something that could be rather tricky to do when dealing with animals. He’d taken note of the Scouring Charm as well, he was fairly certain he’d seen his mother use it before to clean up hippogriff droppings and was sure it would prove useful. 

It took him a good two weeks to find anything that would be actually useful for his plan however, given he was balancing his studies with searching for appropriate spells and caring for the kneazle. It wouldn’t do to let his grades drop; they might not be as high as Theseus’s were, a fact of which he’d been frequently reminded, but he’d never gotten a failing grade and he didn’t want to start now. 

Still, he managed to find the time to visit the library every once and a while and eventually, he'd come across some things that would help. The first was the Summoning Charm, a fourth-year spell that allowed you to summon an object to you. Newt wasn't sure exactly how precise he had to be in regards to the object he wanted to be summoned, he'd tried summoning his belongings using vague descriptions and it had worked, but he also happened to know where those were and what they looked like. 

He didn’t really know how much of a difference that made, but he was hoping he would be able to just summon the books to him once he got into the restricted section, even if he didn’t know what they looked like or were actually called. If he couldn’t then he'd have to go through all the books manually, which would take time and increase his chances of being caught. Though, thankfully the other charm he'd found would hopefully be able to reduce that chance.

The Disillusionment Charm was a fifth-year spell that made the target blend into their surroundings, similar to how a chameleon would. It was trickier than any spells he'd learned previously, and the difficulty was increased by the fact that he only had himself to practice on, but he was determined to get it down. Even if his attempt at getting into the restricted section failed, it would still likely prove useful in the future.

It had taken Newt two weeks of practicing, which was unintentionally aided by the bullies he frequently had to hide from, before he felt confident in his ability to cast it. It had sent a thrill of excitement through him the first time he’d managed to cast it correctly and a group of Gryffindor third years, who usually never missed a chance to mess with him, had walked right on by without even noticing him. 

He’d been careful not to let that success go to his head though, it wouldn’t do for him to get overconfident and then end up having the spell fail at a critical moment, and had continued to practice until he felt sure he’d gotten it down. That happened to be just in time for Valentine’s Day, which he considered fortunate; it wasn’t that he had anyone trying to give him valentines or anything, though he’d certainly have still been hiding if they did, but most of his usual hiding spots had been taken over by couples doing things he didn't want to see. The remaining out of the way places he knew, such as the Astronomy Tower, tended to result in scolding from the teachers if they saw him; but as long as they didn’t see him it was fine. 

It was really impressive, in a rather sad way, how unobservant people could be. The Disillusionment Charm wasn’t real invisibility, though perhaps it could be if cast by someone much more skilled than him, it merely blended who or whatever it was cast on into the background; it wouldn’t be impossible for someone to notice that something was off if they were really paying attention. 

No one had though, or at least almost no one, he wasn’t entirely sure which it was to be honest; he’d snuck by numerous students and teachers without even so much as a hint of recognition from them, but he was pretty sure Professor Dumbledore had glanced at him once when he’d passed by. If the teacher had realized he was there, he obviously hadn’t been concerned by the fact that Newt was sneaking around, since he’d never been confronted about it. 

With the Disillusionment Charm mastered, at least enough for his needs, Newt was finally ready to pull off his library heist; all that was left was to figure out the when.

* * *

It was a Sunday afternoon when Newt finally decided to put his plan into action, the fact that there were no classes on Sunday left him with plenty of time to double-check his plans, but more important was who would be in the library on Sunday afternoons. It was something he’d noticed over the several weeks he had spent researching in the library; because classes would start back up the next day, all the kids who’d spent the weekend ignoring their homework and goofing off were now in a rush to get things finished, with many of them heading to the library in search of books. 

That was of benefit to Newt, since among those last-minute workers were usually a couple of boys known as troublemakers, who he was hoping would join in and make his distraction more chaotic. He’d seen it happen before; a girl had dropped a book which had immediately started screaming at her, prompting the librarian to rush over and join the screaming match, the boys had shared a grin with each other before setting about making the situation even worse. At the time it had been incredibly annoying and he'd had to quit his research for the day because of the chaos, but now he was hoping it would work to his advantage. 

Coming to a halt just around the corner from the library door, Newt took a deep breath, trying his best to calm his anxieties; he'd gone over the plan several times, it should work just fine and if it started going wrong he could quit immediately and get out of there. The kneazle he was holding gently patted his arm with one of her paws, and he smiled before setting her down on the floor. She really was a very intelligent creature and he fully planned to smuggle her back home at the end of the year, even if his parents wouldn't let them keep her, they could at least find her a safer home than roaming around the forbidden forest.

"You ready?" He whispered to the kitten, who swished her tail in a way that seemed to say he was asking a stupid question. Forcing down the last of his anxieties, Newt carefully twirled his wand around him and cast the Disillusionment Charm, lifting his hand up afterwards to double-check that it had been successful. He could see the way his hand had taken on the appearance of his surroundings and a grin split his face, so far so good.

Following the kneazle down the hall until they were at the library door, Newt carefully pushed it open just enough for the two of them to enter and slipped in. Kneeling down he gently tapped the kitten on the back, before carefully making his way towards the entrance of the Restricted Section; once he'd reached it he turned back around to check the kneazle's position. While he'd been making his way through the library, she had been as well, until she was right in front of the librarian's desk. 

Jumping up on the desk, she let out a soft meow, causing the startled librarian to let out a shriek.

"Out! Out, you stupid beast!" She shouted, causing every eye in the library to turn and look at her. A couple of the older students rolled their eyes, having seen this same situation in previous years when someone's pet had snuck in. Newt waited just long enough to watch the kneazle take off towards the other end of the library, before ducking under the rope that blocked off the entrance to the Restricted Section. 

The inside of the Restricted Section really didn’t look any different from the rest of the library, there were still shelves full of books filling the place; though unlike the rest of the library, some of them were chained to the shelves. He really hoped the one he needed wasn't among them. 

Taking a deep breath, he slowly lifted up his wand and whispered a spell.

"Accio Animagus Books." For a moment it seemed like nothing was going to happen and he was about to let out a disappointed sigh, when a book slammed right into his chest, knocking him to the ground. The book fell to the floor beside him and he flinched at the loud thud it made, but thankfully no one came rushing in to see what the noise was. Of course, given the sound of yelling that was still coming from the rest of the library, he quickly realized that it was unlikely anyone had heard anything. It was ironic really, libraries were supposed to be quiet and yet the Hogwarts librarian seemed to regularly be the loudest person in there.

Picking up the book off the floor, he glanced at the title ‘Becoming the Beast: A Guide to Animagus Transformations’, it seemed his summoning spell had worked. Flipping the book open, he was grateful to find that it had a table of contents, saving him from having to skim the whole book to find what he was looking for. Skipping past the section about the history of animagi, he began to skim through the how-to section,

“Mandrake leaf, full moon, dew…,” Newt muttered to himself as he read; he wasn’t fully paying attention to the words, he didn’t have time for that, but it certainly seemed like a tricky accomplishment to actually become an animagus. It would take time and patience for him to pull it off, which was fine, but he’d worry about that later. 

Setting the open book down, he pulled several pieces of paper out of his bag and placed them next to the book. Taking out his wand, he tapped it twice on the book and muttered a spell Theseus had taught him, before sliding his wind to rest over the papers. The spell was intended to copy the text from one thing onto another, and his brother had informed him it was very useful for if you wanted to share your notes with friends. Of course, Theseus had vastly overestimated Newt’s ability to make friends, so he’d never had any use for it until now. 

As the text from the book appeared on the pages, Newt felt a large amount of worry drop off his shoulders, he’d been worried there would be a spell preventing copying on it. After double-checking to make sure he gotten all the information down, Newt shoved the papers into his bag and stood up, before walking over to a nearby shelf and shoving the book in. He was sure the fact that it was on the wrong shelf would be discovered eventually, but it was much more likely they’d blame it on a lazy older student who didn’t properly put it away, than assuming that it had been done by a second-year who’d snuck in. 

Walking back to the entrance of the Restricted Section, he quickly peeked out to make sure no one was looking in his direction before ducking under the rope and reentering the main part of the library. He then slipped into an empty aisle and ended the Disillusionment Charm, before slipping in with a group of nearby students who were hurriedly leaving the library. It was a testament to just how desperate they were to get away from the angry librarian that no on one seemed to even notice that he’d joined them. 

As he left the library, Newt turned and made eye contact with kneazle, who sped up and dashed out the now open door. As she raced down the corridor, her tail seemed to wave back and forth in excitement, and Newt couldn’t help but grin as he split off from the students he’d joined up with. They’d succeeded.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't remember if there was ever mentioned in any of the books a text copying spell, but even if it wasn't I feel like there's no way after so many generations of Hogwarts students, no one has ever invented one. 
> 
> Anyway I was very disappointed upon joining the fandom at the utter lack of animagus Newt fics ~~(and also that there are no fics with Werewolf Newt or Newt finding the Chamber of Secrets and befriending the basilisk, but I don't want to write those)~~ so I decided I'd have to write one myself. 
> 
> The next chapter will be up....whenever I finish it. I haven't figured out what animagus form Newt will have yet to be honest; I considered some kind of dog, but according to the HP Wiki, its "debated (but generally believed possible) for one's Animagus form to be a magical creature" and I feel like if anyone in wizarding world were to have a magical creature as their animagus form, it'd be Newt. 
> 
> Currently, I'm leaning towards a Kneazle, but if anyone has any suggestions, they're more than welcome. I will say though that I want a smaller creature, so things like a hippogriff or kelpie are out.


End file.
